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Gemma Collins fans emotional as she clashes with mum over self-harm in Channel 4 show
Gemma Collins clashed with her mum Joan over the TOWIE star's battles with self-harm as a teen.The 41-year-old reality star has spoken out for the first time about her struggles with self-harm in a new Channel 4 documentary, called Self Harm and Me.The documentary aired on Wednesday night (February 16), and it sees TV star Gemma try to find out why she used to self-harm for two decades.In the moving documentary, Gemma reveals that she started cutting herself as a teen and first self-harmed in front of her parents at just thirteen years old.In tense scenes, Gemma had a tough conversation with her mum Joan about her self-harming issues.Joan said her and Gemma's dad Alan dismissed the subject at first as they thought their daughters simply: "copying someone from the television".Gemma looked shocked by her mum's comment and told her it was a "silly thing to say".She told her mum: "I needed some help and support at the time,", adding: "Yours and dad's approach was to 'let’s never mention it'."Joan replied: "Life was busy, with everything going on."Gemma fired back: "Yeah but what’s more important, life being busy or your daughter cutting themselves?"Joan responded: "You seemed ok. The problem is with you it wouldn’t have been from home life."You had everything and was happy.